1909 Glidden Tour - Indianapolis News

The following articles are collectively coverage of the 1909 Glidden Tour published in the Indianapolis News. For additional coverage check out the collection of Indianapolis Star articles as well as a portfolio of images elsewhere on First Super Speedway. You can also read reference articles from the 1907 and 1908 Glidden Tours on this site.
 
Attachment GliddenNews071009 was published in the Indianapolis News on Saturday, July 10, 1909. The tour began two days later on a Monday morning. The article begins by reporting on the two primary speakers at a banquet the previous evening - Detroit Mayor Philip Breitmeyer and Charles Jasper Glidden, founder of the tour. The mayor presented  American Automobile Association (AAA) Contest Board Chairman  Frank Hower with the keys to the city. His presentation, the paper reports, was "teeming with bits of stray eloquence and genuine welcome."
 
It was Glidden who dazzled, the paper says, but the coverage indicates it was as much about reputation as anything he said. The following excerpt provides some great biographical background:
 
"...automobilist and aeronaut, who is said to have seen more of the world and its people than any other person. With Mrs. Glidden, he has devoted a greater part of the last eight years to making tours of the world. He has driven 46,526 miles in thirty-nine countries, twice encircling the globe, and reaching the most northerly point possible with an automobile in crossing the Artic Circle in Sweden, and the most sourtherly on Ward's Parade in New Zealand. During the trip Mr. Glidden has taken 2,500 photographs and written 225,000 words to a Boston newspaper. He estimates the costs of the journey, including transportation of the automobile twice around the world and incidental expenses, including interpreters, etc., at $100,000."
 
The banquet was held at the Pontchartrain Hotel the previous night and was part of a big agenda of pre-event activities hosted by the motor city. Earlier the same day the article was published (the Indianapolis News was an evening paper) 14 automobile factories in Detroit hosted open houses. An automobile parade was scheduled that afternoon and as many as 1500 cars were expected to take part. A concert by the Maxwell-Briscoe (based in Newcastle, Indiana) company's band was scheduled for later that afternoon. The great steamer City of Cleveland was scheduled for an excursion cruise through Lake St. Clair and the flats.
 
This article notes the brands of the official cars. The Premier Motor Manufacturing Company provided the chairman's car for Hower. Skilled driver Ray McNamara was at the wheel while Chairman Hower, Glidden and Preimier executive H.O. Smith were passengers. Premier also had entries for competition. Among the drivers was Webb Jay who in 1905 was a terror on the short dirt ovals with the famous White Company steam racer "Whistling Billy" until a near-fatal accident in August of that year. Cliff Waltmen and Harry Hammond were their two other drivers, the latter a contestant for the Detroit Trophy. Both the Hower Trophy and the Detroit Trophy were secondary events that ran concurrently with the Glidden Tour and were for smaller cars.
 
The other big auto brand from Indianapolis that is noted is Marmon. Among the drivers was Howard Marmon, who along with brother Walter Marmon led the Nordyke & Marmon firm into the automobile market. Joe Dawson, who would become the winner of the 1912 Indianapolis 500, was assigned as mechanician riding in the Marmon driven by Frank Wing.  Another noted Marmon employee and racer who participated as a riding mechanician was Harry "Sunshine" Stillman, who tested the Marmon Wasp that won the first Indianapolis 500.
 
Among those serviing in official "observer" role was Russe J. Irvin, the assistant to Dr. Goethe Link, the winners of the handicap trophy of the Aero Club of America successful 1909 national championship balloon races staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Another tie to the Speedway was the fact that the track's fantastic new premier trophy, the $10,000 silver Wheeler-Schebler Trophy, was on display at the Wright, Kay & Company jewelry shop.
 
Finally, the article offers an itinerary for the tour including the cities and some of the hotels where they planned to stop:
 
The city stops along the tour, in order, were:

1. Kalamazoo, Michigan
2. Chicago
3. Madion, Wisconsin
4. La Crosse, Wisconsin
5. Minneapolis
6. Mankato, Minnesota
7. Ft. Dodge, Iowa
8. Council Bluffs, Iowa
9. Kearney, Nebraska
10. Julesburg, Colorado
11. Denver
12. Hugo, Colorado
13. Oakley, Kansas
14. Salina, Kansas
15. Kansas City

 
Attachment GliddenNews071209 appeared in the Indianapolis News the day of the start of the tour - July 12, 1909. It shares a lot of great information, such as the length of tour (2,636 miles), the fact that it was 1,000 miles longer than any previous Glidden event and provides a list of all the drivers and cars across the three contests: the Glidden, the Hower and the Detroit. While there can be no doubt this was a grind but the precise skills required to push machines to their speed limits were not at a premium because, as noted above in the cases of Dawson and Stillman, they served as crew members not drivers. In fact, some of the drivers such as Marmon and H.O. Smith, the president of Premier, were company executives not professional race drivers.
 
It is interesting, too, that among the names in this article the two Marmon drivers have the wrong initials. For Howard Marmon it is "A.C.," and for Frank Wing it is "P.N." Wing. One of the frustrating common practices of the reporting of this era is that too frequently they refered to people by their first and middle initials along with their last names. This handicaps additional research on them. It is hard to know if mistakes were made in referring to the other drivers as well.
 
The list of drivers and their cars in the Glidden Tour follows. The car numbers were numbers 1 through 14 in the order presented here.
 
Glidden Tour:

• Webb Jay (Premier)
• Harry Hammond (Premier)
• Will Bolger (Chalmers-Detroit)
• Frank Wing (Marmon)
• Howard Marmon (Marmon)
• R. Gager (Maxwell)
• O.P. Barnhart (Jewell)
• F.S. Day (Pierce-Arrow)
• W.F. Winchester (Pierce-Arrow)
• A.Y. Bartholomew (Glide)
• Gus Busse (Thomas)
• H.O. Hayes (Midland)
• H.M. Searles* (White)

*Note in the link for Searles that he was formerly in the White House secret service and managed the cars that serviced President Theodore Roosevelt.
Detroit Trophy (car numbers 51-53)

• W.A. Wood (American-Simplex)
• Gene Bemb (Chalmers-Detroit)
• H.O. Smith (Premier)

 
Hower Trophy (car numbers 100-114)

• W.H. Vandervoort* (Moline)
• J.A. Wickie (Moline)
• W.S. Gregory (Moline)
• F.A. Tinkle (Brush)
• D.B. Huss (Brush)
• John Machesky (Chalmers-Detroit)
• Frank Steinman (Chalmers-Detroit)
• Charles Goldthwaite (Maxwell)
• John S. Williams (Pierce-Arrow)
• Gale Stevens (McIntyre "buggy wheel")
• J.P. Shimp (Jewell)
• Roy Snyder (Mason)
• John C. Moore (Lexington)

*Vandervoort was president of Moline.
 
The body of this article reviews both the start of the event as well as its rules and arrangements. This article notes two EMF "confetti cars" that departed well in advance of the actual competitors. They started as much as two hours early and scattered confetti to mark the trail for the contestants. Just 20 minutes prior to the 10 AM start a Premier used as the "chairman's car." This was the car driver Ray Mcnamara drove with Chairman Hower, AAA Secretary E.L. Ferguson and Charles J. Glidden riding as passengers.
 
The participants were finally ready to go at 10 AM.  Premiers driven by Webb Jay and Harry Hammond were the first two released, with Jay first and Hammond following a minute later. Subsequent releases also came at one minute intervals. Among the notables departing were the Marmon machines of Howard Marmon, who was fourth away and Frank Wing who followed a minute later.
 
Among the Detroit Trophy contenders was Premier President H.O. Smith with his mechanician Harry Weller. The city of Detroit commissioned the trophy for $250 as a gesture because it was the host city. The story goes that Mayor Breitmeyer reached into his own pocket for another $250 to bring the quality of the award to a standard he was comfortable with.
 
In addition to discussing highlights from the start the article outlines the 15 day schedule of the Glidden Tour, complete with a list of cities, the mile markers to that point and the arrival date. The five previous Glidden Tours were held in the eastern half of the country and the 1909 event was the furthest west the tour had strayed. This put the path in some remote, undeveloped areas. To address a shortage of hotel rooms for overnight stays a train with Pullman cars was commissioned from Ft. Dodge, Iowa on to the finish in Kansas City.
 
The train consisted of six sleeping cars, three dining cars and a headquarters car for officials and staff. Contestants received dinner and breakfast in the dining cars. Each was presented with a box lunch.
 
The article also offers good insights to rule changes. Previously the trophy was presented to the winning auto club representing a city. For 1909 the award would be presented to an individual team. The article notes that demerits assigned to entries for mechanical issues or tardiness in reaching check points could be assigned in fractions of a point, down to a tenth of a point. The cars were divied into five classes for the Glidden Trophy, from A through E all based on the price of the cars.
 
The article includes more detail I found educational. The Glidden cars were "touring cars" and required to carry four adults or equivalent ballast. The Hower machines were any stock chassis with a runabout body carrying at least two people. Finally, the Detroit Trophy cars were stock chassis with miniature tonneau (back seat) and carrying four passengers or, again, equivalent ballast.
 
Attachment GliddenNews071309 contains an Indianapolis News article published July 13, 1909 that reports on the second day of the tour which was the run from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Chicago. The single most interesting aspect of the article that caught my attention is a bit of a contradiction between this report and coverage of the same day that appeared in the News' competitor, the Indianapolis Star. This article reports that the poorest roads were in Michigan and were quite sandy. It goes on to say the Indiana roads were superior and a welcome relief. This is essentially the opposite of the Star's contention that it was actually the northern Indiana roads that were of inferior quality, very dusty with particulates as fine as talcum powder - a size that enabled them to invade a driver's goggles.
 
Since the Indianapolis News was an evening paper it went to press before the day's run was complete. The article reflected on the events of the previous day. On the first day Jackson, Michigan, a big automobile industry town in the day, hosted the contestants who stopped for lunch and were given a "royal" reception. One aspect that adds a good visual is that the roads out of Battle Creek, Michigan were winding and followed the Kalamzoo River before arriving in Kalamazoo that evening.
 
On the second day South Bend, Indiana, the home of the newly amalgamated Studebaker-EMF Company, hosted a luncheon. This was hosted by E. Leroy Pelletier, the newly appointed assistant manager of the company and formerly Henry Ford's first advertising executive. Studebaker provided three press cars for the sizable contingent of newspapermen that were embedded in the Glidden caravan.
 
The article reports that the often referenced Chicago area "speed trap" along the Glidden Tour was on Jeffery Avenue heading into the metropolis. The Chicago Auto Club had wired warnings that the Chicago constables were laying in wait for the Gliddenites. As for the performance of the cars during the first day, with the exception of three cars all the competitors persevered without penalty. Of the three marques incurring one, the McIntyre, was for failing to keep up the pace and arriving late. The other two, a Brush and a Chalmers-Detroit, incurred penalties for mechanical issues. The Brush was far more serious, breaking a connecting rod. The Chalmers-Detroit was a relatively simple malady - a broken fender "iron," which was a support rod between the frame and the body.
 
The somewhat odd coverage provided by the Indianapolis News continued on July 14, 1909 as the evening paper reported on the morning departure from Chicago headed off to the destination of to Madison, Wisconsin. Prognostcations that the roads would prove terrible would be proven true. The stretch from Chicago to Milwaukee was described as macadam, gravel and sand while the next section from Milwaukee to Madison was poorer, composed of sand and clay.
 
As for the previous day the run into Chicago was described as smooth, again praising the good quality of northern Indiana roads. In fact, the stretch between South Bend and Chicago was apparently fine macadam and provided what the paper called the first opportunity for real speeding. The first of the competitors to check into Chicago was, impressively, President H.O. Smith of Premier.  Chalmers-Detroit driver William Bolger came second. The article goes further to provide the finishing order by car make and number. Also it provides a list of the cars across all three trophy competitions and penalties incurred to date. Only two Brush and one McIntyre machines had received demerits. Brush #104 and the McIntyre arrived late in the night.
 
During their overnight stay in Chicago the contestants parked their cars in Grant Park across from the city's Annex Hotel. During the evening the guests were entertained by the Chicago Auto Club with a "moving pictures" show of the previous month's Cobe Trophy and Indiana Trophy road races.
 
Attachment GliddenNews071509 contains an Indianapolis News article published July 15, 1909 that describes the previous day's trek from Chicago to Madison as well as that day's start from Madison to the La Crosse destination for the day. The big news was the day's only failure - the demise of the McIntyre "buggy" entry. The McIntyre of Auburn, Indiana was a curious design, a throwback to first generation horseless carriages. One of its thin, high wheels became wedged in an interurban rail track, jerking the entire car to its side, wrenching the back of an official observer (Mr. Janisse) but driver Frank Goodwin escaped unharmed. The right front wheel was completely demolished and the car was withdrawn as the rules did not allow for wheel replacement.
 
Frank Wing was the first contestant to arrive in Madison after the 175.2 mile trip from Chicago. He drove his Marmon into town at 3:10 PM. Some 30 cars arrived at intervals of 15 seconds to a minute and a half. The drive, described as a "boulevard pleasure drive" because the roads were excellent.
 
Not everything was perfect as the departure from Chicago came in a deep fog. Also, the Chicago authorities asserted a minor inconvenience with a speed warning as the leaders passed through Highland Park. There were no citations. At the other end, Milwaukee provided the Gliddenites with a warm reception. The Milwaukee Automobile Club of the "Cream City" were enthusiastic hosts and provided a feast fit for 1,000 men. A lot of food was left over and donated to the Salvation Army. The celebration included a band at the city's Capitol Park. As many as 10,000 people gathered in the square area between 7 and 10 PM to see the parked cars with their crews.
 
Attachment GliddenNews071609 from the July 16, 1909 Indianapolis News is a little unusual for the evening paper as it does very little to report on the progress of the tour that day. Most of the articles provide more information about the same day's developments but this one merely mentions that the pathfinder confetti car of Dai Lewis departed at 5 AM followed by the chairman's vehicle with Frank Hower aboard.
 
As also reported in the Indianapolis Star this segment of the tour was particularly challenging due to poor road conditions. The Acme car that Secretary Ferguson was involved in an accident triggered by a child running in front of it. The driver swerved to avoid the kid and skidded into a ditch. Nobody was injured but the car was worse for the wear - the Star reported it suffered a broken axle.
 
In one of the most bizarre incidents of any Glidden Tour was the start of  a fire that could easily gotten out of control but for the alacrity of the occupants to two of the press cars - one a Studebaker and the other a Chalmers-Detroit. Apparently ignited by the careless toss of a match the incident triggered a warning from officials to contestants to not discard matches as there was particular concern in the dry grass great plains regions they would travel later along the trail.
 
Maxwell driver Charles Goldthwaite and his observer were hurled from their seats at the first of several challenging hills near Kendall, Wisconsin. The machine struck a "water break" in a narrow road with such force as to eject them. While "water break" may have been a common term in those days it is not today. I assume it was a low area in the path that frequently became flooded and probably obscured large rocks or boulders. A portion of the course traversed a hilly region the locals called the "Little Alleghenies" which was a test for the machines particularly important in the early days of the automobile.
 
Not all this segment consisted of poor roads. A stretch out of Madison to a place the paper calls Maraboo received positive reviews. From Kendall, as noted above, to Sparta they found rocky trails through wooded areas with more of the water breaks as well as sand hills and granite ledges along the way. One driving strategy described was to shut off the ignition and taking the steep bluff declines in low gear to save their cars. Among the drivers noted for employing this technique were Walter Winchester (Pierce-Arrow), Teddy Dey (Pierce-Arrow) and Marmon pilots Frank Wing and Howard Marmon.
 
Attachment GliddenNews071709i reports on the events of that day's scheduled pause of the tour in Minneapolis. The AAA had scheduled a full day recess from competition as contestants were treated to the hospitality of the Minneapolis Automobile Club with a packed agenda of entertainment commencing at 9 AM. The article also reports on the previous day's segment from La Crosse to Minneapolis.
 
The contestant's "day off" began with a trolley tour in special cars to Minnehaha Falls. After viewing the falls and Longfellow Glen the group traveled to Ft. Snelling where a special dress parade was presented. They returned to the West Hotel in Minneapolis by noon. At 2 PM a special train transported the contestants to Savage, Minnesota to the stock farm of Marion W. Savage. A race was presented matching the famous Dan Patch and Minor Heir, recognized as the two fastest harness horses in the world at that time.
 
To top off the day an illuminated parade of decorated cars through the main streets of Minnesota took place that evening. Over 1,000 cars participated with Glidden, Hower and Governor John A. Johnson acting as judges of the decorations.
 
Even this far along in the tour most of the cars had perfect scores. They had survived the rough terrain without mechancial failures and arrived on time. Among those that had probelems were William Bolger's Chalmers-Detroit and E.O. Hayes' Midland of the Glidden field. The Hower field had the most casualties with five cars encountering penalties and two, the Hupmobile of Frank Steinman and the McIntyre of Frank Goodwin were withdrawn. The five penalized cars included the Brushes of F.A. Trinkle and D.B. Huss as well as  Goldthwaite's Maxwell-Briscoe; the Jewell of Jack Shimp and the Mason of R. Snyder. None of the three Detroit Trophy entries had incurred penalties.
 
The previous day produced two accidents. W.L. Conklin, an observer was tossed from a car identified only as "No. 97" near Wastedo, Minnesota. Reportedly the car hit a "concealed water bar," whatever that was. His injury was a sprained ankle. Two Maxwell cars, one contesting for the Hower Trophy and the other a press car were involved in incidents as well. The two cars had frightened a horse drawing a buggy and Hower Maxwell (No. 107) ended up in a ditch as driver Charles Goldthewaite successfully swerved to block the road and collar the runaway animal.
 
Attachment GliddenNews071909 contains an article published in the July 19, 1909 Indianapolis News that reports on the resumption of the contest after a layover in Minneapolis. The layover included a junket to Lake Minnetonka where the travelers enjoyed the vista from the decks of a chartered steamer. Afterward they were transported to the Automobile Country Club for lunch.
 
The day's segment was from Minneapolis to Mankato, Minnesota - a distance of 132 miles. The plan was for a 6.5 hour timed run but a special ceremony was scheduled at the great auditorium in St. Paul where the contestants were presented with souvineers. The day's schedule included a lunch at Owatonna, Minnesota.
 
The article reports that the tour would travel through Ft. Dodge, Iowa; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Kearney, Nebraska and Julesberg, Colorado to Denver. The Denver layover was planned for three nights and two days. The week ahead promised some tough going especially as the tour entered the undeveloped great plains area of the country. A train of Pullman cars was scheduled to shadow the tour to provide the Gliddenites with sleeping and restaurant facilities.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072009 contains an Indianapolis News article published July 20, 1909 that discusses the departure of the contestants from Mankato as well as the previous day's trip into that town. The strain of the tour was clearly in evidence as one man was seriously injured after being hurled from a car, two cars were withdrawn and two others penalized.
 
The injury came to a man referred to "mechanician Gray" was thrown out of the Studebaker-EMF auxillary confetti car and incurred what was reported as severe head injuries. Another accident occurred when the Maxwell press car was swerved into a ditch after an irate farmer wielding a pitchfork ran into the road in front of it.
 
Both of the troubled Bush cars were withdrawn from the Hower Trophy as company officials determined their seven HP machines simply could not sustain the pace. The penalized cars were the Chalmers-Detroit that once again had trouble with its fender assembly. The Jewell car also incurred a penalty 5.8 demerits when it was necessary to tighten a hub flange.
 
The day began at 8 AM for the contestants. They were escorted several miles by members of the Mankato Automobile Club for several miles. They passed through the Minnesota towns of Garden City, Winnebago, Blue Earth and Elmore before entering Iowa. The day's segment terminated at Ft. Dodge, Iowa, a distance of 126.6 miles.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072109 contains an article published July 21, 1909 in the Indianapolis News and is primarily a report on the previous day's run from Mankato to Ft. Dodge. The roads were judged to be in rough shape with boggy "gumbo" soil, small culverts, wooden bridges and numerous ruts. The contestants were encouraged by farmers and villagers cheering them on.
 
The day produced two penalties, one to Maxwell No. 107 of the Hower Trophy with a cylinder water leak, as well as the Midland of Goldthwaite who took a 0.6 demerit for repairing a fender. E.O. Hayes' Chalmers-Detroit Bluebird arrived late while William Bolger swerved into a ditch but officials reviewed the situation and did not assess any penalty.
 
George Smithson's Studebaker press car was re-assigned to the trailblazing status largely based on the significant experience the driver had with the poorly defined roads of Iowa. Smithson was asked to determine a path to circumvent reportedly muddy roads leading into Council Bluffs. Secretary E.L. Ferguson was injured when his Acme official car ran over a culvert near Eagle Grove, Minnesota. A sharp jolt fractured bones in his left hand.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072209 contains an article from the July 22, 1909 Indianapolis News reports on the start of the day's run from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Kearney, Nebraska but with more detail on the previous day's segment from Ft. Dodge. The key message about the start was that everyone was relieved to pass over the bridge that crossed the Missouri River that served as the border between Iowa and Nebraska. The general view was that the Nebraska roads were superior to those of Iowa which were derided as "gumbo" in quality. This term was used frequently in those days with reference to dirt roads when they became soaked with rain and turned to mud. Fortunately for the contestants rain was not a big issue during their Iowa passage.
 
By this time the tour was nearly half complete and penalties had been assigned to half the entrants. The only cars in the Glidden Tour that remained with perfect scores included: a White, Maxwell, Marmon, Thomas, two Premiers and two Pierce-Arrows. Five Hower cars were unpenalized and these were a Chalmers-Detroit, two Pierce-Arrows, a Lexington and a Moline. Of the three Detroit Trophy entries only one, the Premier, was penalized. This car had a broken gas pipe and incurred a penalty of eight-tenths of a point. One interesting point - this article refers to the Glidden cars as the "touring cars," the Hower as the "roadster class," and the Detroit Trophy cars as the "toy tonneaus."
 
Attachment GliddenNews072309 contains an article published July 23, 1909 in the Indianapolis News. The article focuses on the previous day's trip from Council Bluffs to Kearney but opens with notes about what contestants could expect from that day's journey. The destination that day was Julesburg, Colorado where a long distance phone call had informed organizers that the town could only offer two bathtubs for the incoming guests. The alternative, local officials offered, was to bathe in the Platte River.
 
The previous day's trip into Kearney was the first time in Glidden Tour history that a segment exceeded 200 miles. The roads were described as varying from "dangerously rough to lightning fast and from deep dust to almost bottomless mud."
 
The Glidden Thomas car No. 11 "sank into a gutter of gumbo." It reportedly required five automobiles and 20 men to extricate it from the quagmire. Reportedly the entire tour was delayed an hour by the muddy passage. Harry McIntosh's Studebaker press car was used to pull a non-contesting Ford from a muddy ditch.
 
Two cars were penalized - a Jewell due to a faulty spark plug and the Chalmers-Detroit entered in the Detroit Trophy. The latter penalty left only the American-Simplex with a perfect score in the Detroit Trophy competition. The Jewell is listed as No.11, but that is one of the numbers assigned to the Glidden Trophy contestants and the car is otherwise described as part of the "roadster class," which is the Hower Trophy.
 
A White steamer did not arrive until late due to several tire failures. A Chalmers-Detroit entered in the Glidden Trophy was withdrawn. Secretary Ferguson was badly cut after being thrown from his car and into a barb wire fence. He was transported into Denver that evening for quality medical attention. This is the first article I have found that confirms Ferguson as the AAA Contest Board Secretary. Note that the previously withdrawn Brush entries and the Hupmobile were continuing with the tour as non-contestants.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072609 contains an article from the July 26, 1909 Indianapolis News. At this point the contestants were on a layover in Denver and being entertained by the Denver Automobile Club. That day the contestants were treated to a trip to Mt. McClellan while the previous day they were shown the sights of Denver using cars from that city's automobile club. They also visited the Lakeside Amusement Resort just outside the city.
 
At this point in the competition there were only 13 cars left with perfect scores. Interestingly, the News continued to report on the progress of the cars that had resigned from the contest. The Brush cars reportedly impressed the contingent with their ability to hang in there on the tour. Tires were typcially a weak point in all cars in those days. Rubber technology was primitive, so everyone was surprised to hear the Chalmers-Detroit of Jean Bemb had survived from the Detroit start without a change.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072709 contains an article originally published in the July 27, 1909 Indianapolis News that covers the departure from Denver and more detail about the entertainment provided during their layover there. The plan for the day was to travel to Colorado Springs. A reception committe met the contestants at Palmer Lake and escorted them to the city. They were entertained there for two hours where they could admire Pike's Peak. Their destination for the day was Hugo, Colorado.
 
The article reports that the layover in Denver was the most elaborate in the history of the Glidden Tour up to that time. The trip to Mt. McClellan was accomplished by train. The evening closed with a reception at the Denver  Motor Club. As they looked ahead to the segment to Hugo, Colorado Chairman Hower gave the first order to contestants in the history of the tour to maintain a pace of greater than 20 MPH.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072809 contains an article from the July 28, 1909 Indianapolis Star that focuses on events of the previous day when the tour traveled from Denver to Hugo, Colorado. Very little mention is made of the activities from the day the article was published other than to note that the trip was to Oakley, Kansas and covered 165 miles. The article notes that the stop at Colorado Springs mentioned in the previous day's report including a viewing of the "Garden of the Gods" rock structures.
 
During the previous day's trek to Hugo several issues arose which resulted in accidents and penalties to contestants. The American Simplex that had been leading the battle for the Detroit Trophy veered into a five foot hole, breaking its radiator. The penalty was 1.4 points for labor and material. This put the Premier in the lead. The White Steamer lost points for arriving to Hugo late. The Glide car was also penalized but the reason was not apparent at the time of the report.
 
The previously withdrawn competitors who had continued on encountered my trouble. The Brush No. 104 turned over on a mountainous path while the Hupmobile threw a connecting rod and retired entirely.
 
Attachment GliddenNews072909i contains an article originally published in the July 29, 1909 Indianapolis News. It looks ahead to the day's run from Oakley, Kansas to Salina, Kansas - the penultimate day of the tour. Most of the article focuses on the performance of the cars during the Hugo, Colorado to Oakley.
 
The roads on the previous day's stint were reported to be the roughest since the passage to La Crosse. Broken springs were typical complaints and the Thomas Glidden entry had suffered a broken frame before it even arrived in Hugo. The Studebaker press car swerved into a ditch and broke a wheel 22 miles short of Hugo. The Glide machine was one of the entries reporting a broken spring. Both the Maxwell Hower and Glidden entries suffered broken springs as well.
 
The Pierce-Arrow entry for the Hower Trophy had a rear tool box mount break and the container was dragging on the road. The car was not immediately penalized but demerits were inevitable and the team knew it. The Glidden Pierce-Arrow No. 8 had a defective starting apparatus but also was not penalized. As of the stop in Hugo there were five cars in the Glidden grind that had perfect scores: a Marmon, two Premiers and two Pierce-Arrows. Among the Hower cars a Chalmers-Detroit, a Moline, a Lexington and two Pierce-Arrows still had untarnished records.
 
Attachment GliddenNews073009 contains an article originally published in the July 30, 1909 Indianapolis News. This reports marks the beginning of the last leg of the tour from Salina, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri, a distance of 233.8 miles. The area had been pummeled by heavy rains in recent days and the contestants were pessimistic about road conditions.
 
Most of the report focused on the previous day's run from Hugo, Colorado to Salina. The day's events did not diminish the perfect scores of the 10 cars that arrived in Hugo unblemished. The cars penalized on that leg had recieved previous demerits. Among those were the No. 50 Premier (broken spring), the No. 14 White steamer (repaired mud guard), Jewell No. 111 (broken gas pipe) and Glide No. 10 (broken front axle).
 
A special report in this attachment shares that officials from Kansas City, Missouri met the stream of contestants at the Kansas-Missouri state line. Led by the city's mayor, Thomas T. Crittenden, some 500 cars gathered along the road. These represented most of the cars in the city and escorted the contestants through the main streets of the city. They ended the tour at a check-in station at the Coates House.
 
That evening's entertainment was organized by the Kansas City Automobile Club and the Commerical Club and other civic groups. Several receptions were planned that evening as well as a motor car meet at Elm Ridge race track the following day.
 
Officials announced that it would be several days before the winner would be determined. The cars were parked at the city's convention hall and held until technical inspection was completed. Members of the technical committee were: Henry Souther of the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers; Joe Tracy, engineer and veteran race driver, as well as event official C.E. Ricker. Chairman Hower announced that he believed every car would be penalized as it was unlikely that some mechanical issue, however minor, would not be discovered.
 
Attachment GliddenNews073109 contains an article originally published in the July 31, 1909 Indianapolis News and covers the final leg of the 1909 Glidden Tour. This was a 212 mile segment that originated in Salina, Kansas and terminated in Kansas City, Missouri and took place the previous day. The article reports that this stretch was the most challenging of the entire tour but the article lacks detail. The primary reason for any adversity was a series of thunderstorms that soaked the dirt roads so thoroughly they turned inot a quagmire.
 
The challenging roads produced penalties, two of them to cars previously with perfect scores. One was the Glidden competitor Lexington that broke a wheel - a failure so catastrophic it was deemed a disqualifying event by official rules. A second perfect score was spoiled when the Hower Trophy contender Chalmers-Detroit developed some kind of wheel trouble and was assessed demerits. The exact issue was not explained.
 
After checking in the cars were turned over to the tech committee at the Kansas City convention hall. All were covered with mud. Five of the Glidden contenders still had no demerits. These were the two Pierce-Arrows driven by Walter Winchester and Teddy Dey; the two Premiers manned by Webb Jay and Harry Hammond, and lastly the Marmon of Howard Marmon. The plan was to announce the results as quickly as possible, perhaps the next day.
 
The chairman's car received a lot of attention because it was the first of the tour cars to cross the state line into Missouri. The two trailblazer or "pilot" cars failed so after Cedar Falls, Kansas where the second one dropped out, the chairman's car effectively became the pilot machine. The AAA contest board members that were in the original trailblazers hitched a ride with Hower. These men were Sam "S.P." Stevens of Rome, New York; F.W. Webb of Brooklyn and W.W. Wright of Wilkes-Barre.
 
Nine minutes after Hower's car arrived in Kansas City the first contestant followed. This was the Pierce-Arrow of Teddy Dey with others following in rapid succession. The day the article was published was a time of celebration. A 100 mile trophy race was scheduled by the Kansas City Automobile Club. The drivers and cars in the race were Al Dennison (Knox); Bob Burman (Buick); C. Levendosky (Maxwell); Phillip Goetz (Moon); G.M. Breed (Buick); O.E. Snicler (Great Western); F.C. Schrader (Petrel) and C.D. Dinklage (Auburn). The race was won by Bob Burman.
 
Attachment GliddenNews080209 contains an article published August 2, 1909 in the Indianapolis News and reports on the results of the Kansas City technical inspection of the contestant cars. As a result Chairman Hower announced that for the fifth time a Buffalo Auto Club entry had won the Glidden Tour. This was the Pierce-Arrow entry of owner Charles Clifton and driver Walter F. Winchester. Another Clifton-owned Pierce-Arrow picked up the the Hower Trophy as well with John S. Williams driving. The Detroit Trophy, the paper reported, had been won by Jean Bemb's Chalmers-Detroit. The two Pierce-Arrows were the  only machines out of a total of 30 contestants across all three trophies that were never penalized.
 
The article reports that the technical inspection was extremely stringent. Loose belts, nuts, screws were worth fractional demerits at the very least. Penalties were also assessed for frames, wheels and axles that were out of alignment or in some way distorted. Springs that were judged to be sagging also caught the inspectors' eyes.
 
Indianapolis marques received high praise. The Marmon of Howard Marmon and two Premiers driven by Webb Jay and Harry Hammond survived the tour without penalty but were nailed with penalties in tech review.
 
Other Indiana entries included the McIntyre "buggy" (Auburn, Indiana) that was withdrawn before the finish as well as the American Simplex (Mishawaka, Indiana) that was in the running for the Detroit Trophy until late in the tour. Several of the contestants planned to return home in their tour cars. Roy Snyder, in the Mason car planned to leave for Des Moines, Iowa the next day. The Midland car driven by E.O. Hayes also planned to leave in the morning, his destination was Moline, Illinois.
 
Attachment GliddenNews080609 contains an article first published in the August 6, 1909 Indianapolis News and reports on a protest by the Premier Motor Manufacturing Company that withheld the presentation of the Glidden and Hower trophies. At the time of publication the event organizers were holding the trophies.